I was fortunate to play 27 at Holston this past Saturday with a few GCAers and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The weather was great and the company was even better.
My biggest thought and compliment to the place is that there are multiple options off many of the tees for different strategies. It was great. You could hit driver all day or lay up all day. I loved it. I don't think I could ever get tired of playing that golf course.
The greens (which were in immaculate shape) mainly sloped from back to front and were not to be taken lightly. However, I just couldn’t get the ball to the hole. Maybe my next time out I’ll get it right.
Before I give my run down, apologies to the guys that know every nook and cranny of the place. I don’t mean to be redundant with what a lot of you already know about Holston, but these are a few thoughts on my first play.
#1 – A soft draw off the tee with tons of room….it was like Donnie Ross designed that hole just for me.
#2 – The strategy off the tee varies greatly depending on what tee you play because of the lone tree left. From the member tee, you either have to play out to the right or you can try to be aggressive and sling it around the tree for the shorter approach in. I have no problem with being forced to hit a certain shot to gain the advantage as is the case on this hole.
From the back tees, you can play out to the right, go over the big tree, or really take the aggressive play and go left of the tree. Once again, I love having the options available.
#4 & #8 – Both slightly elevated par 3s that are exposed to the winds with a bunker short on #4 and short left on #8 . Recovery is tough and from what I gathered the smart play would be playing to the back portions of both greens and trying to make par by putting back down the slope (even though that’s tough too). Any mishit into the wind and you’re coming up short.
#7 and #16 – Both holes provide eagle opportunities, but have OB in play. Most times I hate OB, but this time it works for me. With a reachable par 5 and a drivable par 4, the holes have to have something to defend themselves. The OB creeps in on the right side of #7 green and it becomes closer the further you miss it right on #16. The way I look at it is that if you don’t like it, then lay up or miss left as that’s the way it is.
#10 – From the fairway, the slight mounding in front of the green really threw off my depth perception. The flagstick was back right but it looked front right to me with not much room to land it. Upon reaching the green, I could see that there was a ton more room than I originally thought…..great visual deception.
#13 – Don’t go above the hole. I had about 15 feet downhill for birdie and was more than happy with 2 putts.
#18 – This green is not to be taken lightly. After hitting it in the right greenside bunker in 2, I blast out to 15 feet above the hole and give it a run since I couldn’t get it to the hole all day. Blowing it 8 feet by and then missing the comebacker left me with a bogey to finish. Not what I had planned, but my group informed me that I wasn’t the first.
Many thanks to the great guys that I played with and many thanks to Ryan Blair for having the course firm and fast. I’m really looking forward to my next venture down to Knoxville to tackle the great Holston Hills.
EDIT - something thing I forgot to add was that the routing was pretty cool....especially the first 4 holes as the wind hits you from all directions. Also, no 2 holes were similar. When I stepped on each tee I never thought "this hole looks just like the other hole", the only possible exception could be #4 and #8 because both are exposed and are of somewhat similar length.